'So much strength': women call for end to violence

Yahoo

14-03-2025

Indigenous women from across the world have gathered to call for and end to violence, eradication of inequality and for their voices to be heard.
The International Indigenous Women's Forum, marking 25 years of advocacy, released their political declaration at the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.
The forum called for sanctions for gender-based violence, human trafficking and murder of Indigenous women; respect for traditional knowledge, access to sexual and reproductive health services; and inclusion of Indigenous women in climate and biodiversity policymaking.
Among those at the event was Waanyi and Kalkadoon lawyer Sandra Creamer.
Ms Creamer, who is a board member of the forum, said among the issues at the forefront of Indigenous women's minds are climate change, domestic violence, incarceration and suicide rates.
"We do have the solutions but there has to be respect for our culture ... that culture has been our foundations since day one, we have our lores and we do have cultural ways of dealing with things," she told AAP.
Each year, the forum brings Indigenous women from around the globe to the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York, something Ms Creamer said should not be underestimated.
"It's about being a collective of Indigenous women who have that connection to our land, which is so important to us because it is our spirituality, our identity, our Songlines, and how we keep maintaining that," she said.
Ms Creamer is confident the dream of eradicating violence against Indigenous women can be realised, if not for this generation, but for the next.
But what is most powerful about their call to action, she said, is it comes from Indigenous women banding together as a collective.
"The women come with so much pride, so much strength, and their strong spirits to make for whatever they need to do in their communities and their countries," she said.